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Dialogues on Nonviolence, Religion, and Peace

Anderlini 2016Sanam Anderlini (2016)

The Dialogues on Nonviolence, Religion, and Peace, which began in 1999, were established through a gift to the Kroc Institute from Mrs. Anne Marie Yoder and her family. Each year, the Kroc Institute invites a leading thinker, writer, scholar, and/or peace advocate to deliver a lecture related to nonviolence, religion, and peace. Following the lecture, audience members join in informal dialogue and discussion with the speaker and with each other.

Past lecturers:

  • Traci C. West (2024), James W. Pearsall Professor of Christian Social Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School (NJ), “Racism, Gender Violence, and Hypocrisies of Christian Love and Peace"
  • Robert Orsi (2023), professor of religious studies, Northwestern University, "Religion(s) in the Ruins of the Temples"
  • Tecla Namachanja Wanjala (2021), Kenyan Peace Advocate; Renowned Consultant on Transitional Justice, Conflict Transformation, Social Healing, and Reconciliation

  • Azza Karam (2020), Secretary General, Religions for Peace International; Professor of Religion and Development, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, "Multi-Faith Actions: The Tipping Point for 'Peace'"
     
  • Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis (2019), Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary, "A New and Unsettling Force: Building the Movement to End Poverty"
     
  • Sarah Thompson Nahar (2018), 2018 Generations Fellow at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change; Licensed minister within the Mennonite Church USA denomination; Former Executive Director, Christian Peacemaker Teams, "Flushing Peace Down the Toilet: Strategies for the End of the World as We Know It"
     
  • Fr. David Kelly, C.PP.S. (2017), Executive Director, Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, "Responding to Violence, A Restorative Justice Approach"
     
  • Sanam Anderlini (2016), Co-Founder and Executive Director of the International Civil Society Network (ICAN), "Peacemaking in the Age of Extremism: Inertia or Innovations in Mediation & Diplomacy"
     
  • George Hunsinger (2015), Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, "Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Anchoring Nonviolence in the Beatitudes"
  • Maria Stephan (2014), Senior Policy Fellow, U.S. Institute of Peace; Non-resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council, "Why Civil Resistance Still Works"
  • Ricardo Esquivia (2013), Founding Director, Justapaz, the Colombian Mennonite Ministry for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Action. "Building Just Peace in Colombia"
  • Erica Chenoweth (2012), Assistant Professor, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, "Why Civil Resistance Works: Unarmed Struggle in the Past and Future"
  • Jean Zaru (2011), Palestinian Quaker, peace activist, and author of Occupied with Nonviolence, “A Journey of Transformation: Nonviolent Resistance to Structures of Domination”


  • Charles Villa Vicencio (2010), Visiting Professor, Conflict Resolution Program, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, Cape Town, South Africa, “The International Criminal Court in Africa: Judicial Imperialism or Legal Complementarity?”
  • Nicholas Wolterstorff (2009), Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology and Fellow of Berkeley College at Yale University; Senior Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia, “Why Does Justice Matter?"
  • Donald B. Kraybill (2008), Distinguished College Professor and Senior Fellow, Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania, “Forgiveness & Apology: The Amish, Yoder and Peacebuilding”


  • David Smock (2007), Vice President, Director of the Religion and Peacemaking Program and Director of the Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, United States Institute of Peace, “When Religion Makes Peace, not War”


  • Gene Sharp (2006), Senior scholar at the Albert Einstein Institute in Boston, "Principled Non-Violence: Options for Action"
  • Avishai Margalit (2006), Schulman Professor of Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and founding member of Peace Now, “The Kiss of Betrayal: From Family to ‘Friendship in Faith’”



  • Rajmohan Gandhi (2004), visiting professor at the University of Illinois and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, “The War on Terrorism and the Gandhian Ethic”
  • Miroslav Volf (2004), Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology, Yale Divinity School, “Memory and Reconciliation”
  • Judith M. Brown (2003), Beit Professor of Commonwealth History, University of Oxford & Professorial Fellow, Balliol College, “Gandhi’s Non-Violence: The Political Dilemmas of a Religious Vision”
  • Stanley Hauerwas (2001), Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Divinity School, Duke University, “John Howard Yoder and the Catholic Tradition”
  • Walter Wink (2000), lecturer, workshop leader, and author of When the Powers Fall: Reconciliation in the Healing of Nations, “Nonviolence for the Violent” 

  • Jim Wallis (1999), Editor-in-Chief, Sojourners, “Can a Christian Do Enough to Oppose Genocide While Remaining Nonviolent?”